From Houston to Miami, hospitals running short of remdesivir for Covid-19 patients

With Covid-19 patients filling her Houston hospital, pharmacist Katherine Perez wishes she had enough remdesivir to treat all those who might benefit.

In June, as Texas businesses welcomed customers and coronavirus cases surged, Houston Methodist, the hospital where she works, restricted the medication to only those patients who weren’t yet on ventilators, in the hope of making the supply last longer.

Even with those narrowed criteria — and with enough vials to treat 200 more patients delivered last weekend — there still isn’t enough. Covid-19 inpatients jumped from around 200 in May to over 700 in July, and the flow of the drug hasn’t kept up. “We are on the verge of running out, maybe today, maybe tomorrow,” the infectious disease pharmacist said on Thursday afternoon.